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  Kammler sat back and laughed. “Kill you? I have no such plans. After tonight you may leave and be on your way.”

  Eric took on a questioning look. “I don’t understand. We may leave?”

  “Of course. By this time tomorrow morning the world will have changed and you will be free to live in Innsbruck or you may go back to the United States, although there may be a few changes by then,” Kammler said calmly.

  “What kind of changes?”

  Kammler shrugged. “Well, it probably will no longer exist,” he said.

  The flippancy of the remark stunned Eric. This man had something diabolical in mind and it did not look favorable. In his current situation he could not fight and it would not pay to upset his captors. Eric figured it was easier to humor the man and find out as much as possible. “My I know how you plan on doing this? After all, we are in Austria, a long way from my home.”

  “And since I have a little time, I plan on showing you just that, Herr Anderson. Come, we shall talk as we walk,” Kammler said as he rose from his chair. He came around the desk and motioned for the men to bring Eric and Anna along.

  “First we shall stop just two doors down from this one,” he said as he left the room. The group walked down the hallway until they came to a finely carved wooden door surrounded by a red marble. In the marble beside the door, the words were etched: ‘Adolf Hitler – 1889 – 1947.’ The large polished wooden door was opened and everyone went inside.

  Anna gasped as she entered the room. In the center of the room was a single spotlighted glass sarcophagus, slightly tilted so that the body inside could be viewed easily. Adolf Hitler was illuminated by the spotlight. He was lying in his brown formal uniform with the garrison belt. His left hand was crooked so that it was gripping the front of the belt, much like he hid in public appearances. The red arm band shown brightly in the light and his Iron Cross still adorned the uniform coat. His hat was wedged under his arm. Although his eyes were closed, it appeared as if he would open them at any minute. Almost together, the General and his men came to attention and gave the Nazi salute. The effect was stunning and most disturbing. Anna grasped Eric’s arm. Words tried to come out of her mouth, but were stifled even before she could mouth them.

  “Is this really him?” she asked in a whisper.

  Kammler spoke in a low, almost reverent tone. “Yes, this is our beloved Führer. As the war ended a group of us were able to rescue him from the bunker. A double took his place. We brought him here to safety. He died in February, 1947, in the house your father unfortunately discovered. But before he died, he and I made plans for a new Germany – one built on superior German thought, skill and duty. We took our time and planned until no questions could be asked and no chances taken. It was our Führer who gave us the dream and our Führer who got us started. I felt you needed to see him so you would know what is about to happen is reality and not some dream,” he said. Breaking his eyes away from Hitler, he stared into Eric’s face. “Now you shall see the brilliance of this man,” he said forcefully.

  The men took Eric and Anna out the door again and through a checkpoint and another set of doors. They entered a huge cavernous space brightly lighted. To one side was a set of thick glass windows in equally thick concrete. Men were moving around inside and sitting at a number of consoles. On the other side were four very large steel doors. The doors were nearly 50 feet high and twenty feet wide and had large hydraulic pistons on each side to open and close them.

  Eric and Anna were astounded that all this was under the very house they were living in. The questions flew through Eric’s mind. What is going on here? How did all this go undiscovered? Why had these men waited since 1945 to do this? Kammler had stopped talking but led the group to one set of doors.

  “I can almost ready your mind, Herr Anderson. You want to know what we are getting ready to do and how we could go unnoticed. It is very simple. We went unnoticed because we did not want anyone to find us. Our numbers are few but particularly loyal. We learned that patience would work in our favor. And this is the result,” he said as he pressed a button on the concrete wall.

  The hum of hydraulics pierced the cavern as slowly the doors opened inward. Inside was a huge rocket. It was painted a mottled light gray and had the swastika emblazoned on the side. The rocket was sitting in a 25 foot wide circular silo lined with concrete. The rocket sat in the silo which was already 45 feet deep. The tip of the rocket rose another 40 feet, some 10 feet below a concrete cap. There were two stages. The second stage appeared to sit inside the end of the larger first stage. It was more slender and had what appeared to be a cockpit near the tip.

  “This is our nation’s greatest creation,” Kammler gloated, “the A-10 rocket with the A-9 second stage.” He pointed toward the cockpit canopy. “You see, we are still very far above what you have been able to achieve in all your American technology,” he said. “We sent a man into space in 1945!” he nearly shouted with glee.

  Eric stared in wonder at the machine in front of him. This was far above his understanding of history and technology. None of this was supposed to have happened, yet there it was, poised for flight. He shook his head and asked, “I knew you had what we called the V-2 rockets, but this is so much bigger. How could you be so far ahead of both the US and the Soviets?”

  Kammler was beaming with pride. For so long he had wanted to show others the work he had now spent nearly eighteen years doing. True, it had been taken step by agonizingly slow step, but in the end it had all been exactly as he and his Führer had planned. Within moments the dream would become a reality. There was time to allow the young people to understand. He placed his hands behind his back, much like a teacher, and looked at both Eric and Anna.

  “The answer is quite simple,” said Kammler. “You are exactly where we want you to be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come now, Herr Anderson. Look at your history. At the end of the war, what did your government do? Here were all these brilliant German scientists still working in their shops developing extraordinary things. Like any conqueror you took all the scientists you could find and shipped them back to the United States. The Russians did the same thing. But what you didn’t know was that we planned and orchestrated who would go where. In that way we could firmly control what was being done and just how far your rockets could go,” said Kammler.

  “Are you telling me Von Braun is working for you?” Eric asked incredulously.

  “Von Braun?” Kammler exclaimed. “Von Braun only does what Von Braun wants to do. We had a great deal of difficulty keeping that man focused on the priorities. All he wanted to do was put a man in space. There was a war on and the priority in Germany was weapons. He was always forgetting that,” he said. “No, we were glad to make sure he went to the Americans. I hope he is giving them as many headaches as he gave me. But there were several others still loyal to the Führer working with him. We made sure the Russians got a number of our people too. Very democratic is it not?”

  Eric could not believe what he was hearing. If true, it meant both the United States and the Soviet Union were being manipulated by the very Nazis they supposedly defeated in 1945. If so, where would it ultimately lead? But the rocket in front of them was much larger than the Redstone, Atlas or Titan rockets currently used in America. How could it have been developed and not known about?

  “Herr General, I’m amazed at what you have here. But with you sending off your own scientists, how was this developed? Such things cost billions of American dollars,” Eric said.

  “Very true, young man. But this missile was developed late in the war. I was able to save two of the very best of our scientists to perfect it and make it ready. Our small band of loyal Nazis has worked very hard to have the missiles ready. As far as costs, let’s just say we have what you would call an offshore account,” Kammler said.

  “You keep calling these missiles. It looks to me as if these rockets are designed to carry men into space,” said Anna jumpin
g into the conversation.

  Kammler looked at her and smiled. “Originally, they were designed to carry pilots to guide the warheads to their target; however because of some assistance from the American Army, we were able to obtain a much better guidance system.”

  “The stolen army truck! Herr Dresner said it held electronic parts and that the Americans were very secretive about it,” Eric blurted out.

  “Exactly. We found out through our contacts that the truck was carrying updated guidance systems for the Jupiter missiles in Turkey. I was able to obtain systems for each of our missiles.” Kammler looked back at Anna. “And you are right young lady. These are missiles, not simply some of Von Braun’s man carrying rockets. Each of these missiles can fly over 5,000 miles and strike their target with their atomic warhead.”

  “Atomic!” Eric exclaimed.

  Kammler was enjoying himself. Slowly he was giving out the information to astound and frighten his two guests. Now they would see the brilliance of the entire scheme. “But of course they are atomic. Did you not know that Germany had its own atomic weapons program? Did you not know we were very close to having our own weapons at the end of the war? Unfortunately many of the underground units were able to inhibit our obtaining all the necessary ingredients, but once the war was over those impediments went away. Like the rocket programs, our scientists were snatched up by the victors, but I placed our people in the right places so that the Americans had the best. And look at all you have been able to do!”

  “Why just the Americans? Why not the Soviets as well?” Eric asked.

  “Very simple. The Americans had the money to make things work within the timeframe needed. I actually had one of my people within your Manhattan Project from the very beginning. We let the Americans spend the vast sums for the hard work and then it was delivered to us. Do you know of a man named Fuchs?” Kammler asked.

  Both shook their head.

  “He was on the British and American team. Then in the late 1940s he gave the information about the bomb to the Russians; after he had shared it with us as well. That way we were able to make sure both sides had the same types of weapons. Your people eventually caught him, but he is presently in East Germany still providing information to the Soviets, and now the Chinese,” Kammler said. “But this too we had planned. Now they have been able to get us the materials we needed for our own weapons.”

  “But how? The security around nuclear weapons is so tight,” said Eric in disbelief.

  “Yours, maybe, but not the Russians. Although it was difficult, it was not insurmountable. You see, the Russians love counting things, not taking the steps to insure perfection, as we do. To my knowledge, they are still counting the bomb casings we removed the warheads from five years ago,” Kammler said.

  “But surely, even if you have these terrible weapons, you have only four of them. What could that do to a country like the United States or the Soviet Union?” asked Anna.

  “Ahh, now we come to our reason for being. You see, Fräulein, it is not where you use them, but how you use them. Just look at what is happening in the world right now,” Kammler said. “Right now the two largest and most powerful nations in the world are staring at each other across a small, 90 mile strip of water south of your state of Florida. Each has a finger pointed at the launch button of their respective atomic arsenals, just waiting for the slightest provocation to begin a whole new war.”

  “So that’s it,” said Anna who suddenly grasped what Kammler was doing. “You plan on launching your missiles against each of the powers. They won’t really know where the missiles came from, but will immediately assume it was the other side!” she exclaimed.

  “I am glad you can understand so clearly,” Kammler said smugly.

  Eric nodded. “I must say general, it is a brilliant plan. You have strung our nations along all this time so that everything would fit together at just the right moment. I must give you credit.”

  “Why thank you Herr Anderson.”

  “However there are a few flaws you have not yet considered,” Eric said flatly.

  “And what might those be?”

  “Well, for example, just how many warheads do you expect the United States and the Soviet Union to use? I can tell you there are well over 1,000 such weapons in our missiles and bombers. There are even more in our submarines. Assuming the Soviets will launch the same number we will, that would make over 2,000 nuclear explosions between the US and the Soviet Union. Of course we cannot leave out the British and the French. They, along with Germany and other European nations, are our NATO allies and have vowed to wage war if any of the other NATO nations are attacked. They have their own arsenals so they would probably launch as well. The Soviets will anticipate this and target some of their weapons in France and England too. Then there are the tactical nuclear weapons. They are much smaller, but those could be all over Europe, including Germany. I doubt the Soviets would bother to care where they might be. They will simply explode some more of their own all over the European continent. So, if we say roughly 2,500 nuclear weapons are launched and explode on target, with each yielding between 500,000 kilotons to 1 megaton each, that would generate over 1.5 billion tons worth of explosions happening at almost the same instant. Say each weapon raises a minimum of 1,000 tons of dirt and dust. That will put the equivalent of 2.5 million tons of radioactive dirt, dust and debris up to 60 miles into the atmosphere. That will completely obliterate the sun for the entire northern hemisphere. The radiation will kill animal life and will eventually drift southward and contaminate the southern hemisphere as well. Germany will be sitting at the heart of all this. So even if you get underground, it will probably take over 100 years for the radiation levels to go down enough to come outside again. By then, there will be nothing much to eat and nowhere to go. So don’t you think you should reconsider your position Herr General?”

  Kammler appeared to be getting angry. He obviously didn’t like anyone disagreeing with him. “And who has told you about such things? Your own government? All they want is to frighten the population into letting them build more. I saw some of the results from the tests. Very little was destroyed and the weapons they make now are much more sophisticated than the early ones.”

  “For us maybe, but the Soviets?” Eric pressed. “They could care less if a weapon is dirty. All they want is to beat their chests and tell people they have the damned things. They want to be the big guy on the block. I doubt they even know what their own weapons might do when they go off.”

  Kammler considered that a moment. The young man was right about the Russians. Of course Kammler didn’t think very highly of any of the Slavic nations. But this young man simply wanted to scare him into not carrying out the plan. Nothing could do that. He and the Führer had worked years to make it happen. The smile returned to his face. “And I could care less as well. I seriously doubt the superpowers would use all the weapons in their arsenals. I also doubt the results you seemed so proud to recite. The results will be the destruction of all the infrastructure of both the US and the Soviet Union. Germany will be in a unique position to become the leader of the world, and I fully intend to see that it happens,” he said firmly.

  “You intend to see? Just who the hell do you think you are?” growled Anna. She stood there with her hands on her hips and her chin thrust out. Her eyes focused straight into General Kammler. If they had been guns, they would have gone off. “Eric is right about what will happen. We all know it. You have been down here in your hole so long you have no idea what is really going on in the outside world. You are still living in 1945! Well, the world has changed and we have all changed with it. Now you want to take us back – not to the 1930s but back to the Stone Age! You had your chance and as the Americans say, you blew it. Europe suffered for eight years under your rule. Millions died, economies crumbled, people lost everything and Germany almost ceased to exist. Now all you want to do is kill off another generation, if not the rest of the world just so you can beat your drum a
gain. Well, take a look. Eric and I are a part of the new generation and we don’t want you or your kind around. No one from Austria wants anything to do with you or your great plans. Most of Europe would hunt you down and shoot you like they would a rabid animal. Even Germans are ashamed of what happened while you and your kind were in power. You made Germany the brunt of every joke and every jeer. So if you think people like me will support you, you can think again. Do yourself a favor and give up now. No one wants you. Everyone I know will fight you to the last breath,” she said defiantly.

  Eric looked at his fiancé with growing pride. She was much stronger than he had imagined, and he liked it. He looked back at Kammler. “Colonel, you would be better off going through the war crimes trial I am sure they have ready for you.”

  Kammler turned beet red. His temper, usually controlled, was about to break. His hand began inching toward his service revolver. Eric saw it and moved between Kammler and Anna. There was the slamming of a door and Colonel Müller walked across the facility and up to the general.

  “The countdown has started Herr General. The doctor is asking for your presence,” he said.

  Kammler suddenly calmed. His hand returned to his side. What she said or thought didn’t matter. This was his sworn duty and he would fulfill it to his last breath. “We shall see,” he said dismissively. “I think you will find people are more the same than you realize. Most people will rally around the most powerful, the strongest, or the best leaders. The masses rarely strike out on their own. In any case, tomorrow will begin a whole new world and your kind will simply have to follow along.” Kammler motioned to two young men standing near a tunnel entrance carrying rifles. The two men came up quickly and came to attention.

  “Take these two to my office and hold them there until I send for them. If they try anything, you are to shoot them both,” he said firmly. He looked at Eric, “And thank you for remodeling my home. It’s a shame you will have to leave it.”